"Unless Congress acts by Friday, funds used to reimburse people whose SNAP benefits were stolen by electronic skimming of their EBT cards will expire," said Ashley Burnside, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Law and Social Policy, or CLASP. "It would be especially devastating for families to lose access to this protection this close to the holiday season, when food expenses and bills often rise for families."
"SNAP is a vital nutrition safety net for low-income Americans. When benefits are stolen, SNAP participants' ability to feed their families is threatened," they said. Over 40 million people get the benefit monthly.
The 2023 appropriations law included a temporary authority for states to replace stolen benefits with federal funds. That provision was extended in the continuing resolution passed in September, but it is set to expire Friday with the end of the current stopgap.
Only Congress can extend the replacement of stolen benefits by extending the law that provides federal reimbursement to states for stolen benefit replacement," a USDA spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW in a statement. An administration official told Nextgov/FCW that the White House "strongly supports further extending this protection."
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